when i say 'easy'. i'm certainly NOT referring to the difficulty of execution. the best work is often the 'simplest' work. but that simplicity can be extraordinarily deceptive and can mask an extremely complex and incisive concept.

this poster is easy because is has NO concept. it's just a pretty pretty that could say any band you want, or 'buy lima beans' or martha stewart christmas' or 'vote for hillary'. it's easy because it's generic and pointless.

here's how i see it: if the guy who is putting out records by the bands, footing the bill for this promo tour (for his own and for his friends' bands), has the name of his label on the poster, is paying for this crap wants to have one person do a tour poster (that he pays for and is specifically NOT for sale), then yes, that makes all the others pirates. sorry. how else do you look at it? for dave, he doesn't like it when evrybody else turns the whole shebang into a swagfest and ignores the money-losing effort to promote the bands he's trying to help. he thinks its sleazy, and i do too.

now, dave considers lindsey friend, and tim kerr is one of his very dearest friends of all. when he found out about this poster he raised a fit. tim had no right to become a rep for estrus (especially at that time) and commission posters without dave's ok. it's a matter of respect and manners.

as for the california poster, that was strictly a swag affort with no connection to estrus. totally unauthorized.

look at it this way: it's as if you put on a concert. you commission a cool poster to advertise and give away and promote the show, booked the club, paid the bands,flew them down. say to it everybody was fed and fucked and had a good time (well, maybe not fucked). then somebody shows up with a t-shirt that promotes the show that they want to sell at the door to line their own pockets with cash. would that be ok by you? some guy shows up and wants to cash in on your good community effort? i'd say, ethically, no.

there is no difference with these posters that are unauthorized by the promoter of the show. otherwise, what's to stop anyone from from putting out a poster for any event anywhere just because they want to cash in?